Your "system," Gary, is inferior vs. better defenses. They know what you're doing in various scenarios, and they know how to nullify your best-made plans.

Maybe focus more on adaptability and formation/style uniqueness instead of just sharpening your beloved system. Because you're screwing this team right out of the gate when we face better defenses.

GROW.

Can you please tell me about these better defenses we seem to struggle against? I don't seem to recall getting shut down by an elite defense last season. Unless you're talking about that mighty Vikings D!?

In fact, the best defense we faced all last season was the Broncos, and we dropped 31 points on them. No other offense scored more on their defense last season.

Can you please tell me about these better defenses we seem to struggle against? I don't seem to recall getting shut down by an elite defense last season. Unless you're talking about that mighty Vikings D!?

In fact, the best defense we faced all last season was the Broncos, and we dropped 31 points on them. No other offense scored more on their defense last season.

I understand the term "best defense" is subjective... but I guess I should have stated I'm basing the rankings upon yards allowed.

Yeah, I get that but that is a horrible measure of the "best" defense. To say Denver's defense was better than Chicago's last year is laughable.

Playing by your rules though (yards allowed), we faced 4 of the top 8 defenses last season and we scored, 31, 23,19, and 13. Not exactly lighting up the scoreboard. Also GB would be the 11th ranked defense in yards allowed and our offense put up 17 against them. Doesn't sound like the stats support your argument no matter what stats you use.

There is a simple explanation for our problems that Kubiak didn't address. We lack speed in the skill position areas. While Andre isn't as fast as he once was and he's our fastest receiver. Arian has never been known for his speed, Tate was banged up most of the year, and Forsett is quick but not really fast. None of our tight ends really threaten teams with their separation ability. Even on defense we're probably considered somewhat below average speed wise on the outside and in the secondary.

Now while this isn't the be all-end of to solving our problems I think it would help to have better athletes out on the field. Keo for one scares the crap out of me whenever he's on defense. A lot of talk has been made of us getting more dynamic at receiver, but I think there are more areas on the team where the same needs to happen. We looked old and slow some games and with us being one of the youngest teams in the league that shouldn't have been the case.

Yeah, I get that but that is a horrible measure of the "best" defense. To say Denver's defense was better than Chicago's last year is laughable.

Playing by your rules though (yards allowed), we faced 4 of the top 8 defenses last season and we scored, 31, 23,19, and 13. Not exactly lighting up the scoreboard. Also GB would be the 11th ranked defense in yards allowed and our offense put up 17 against them. Doesn't sound like the stats support your argument no matter what stats you use.

I was simply responding to GP's statement that Kubiak's offense is inferior against the better defenses. First of all, that's quite an odd statement. What offenses are superior against good defenses? When an offense is going up against an elite defense, it's only natural that you won't perform as well as you usually do.

But like you said, we played 4 of the top 8 defenses last season. Guess what, we won all 4 of those games. In the Broncos, Jets, and Bengals games, we had no problems moving the ball on their defense. That Bears game was a mess due to weather, so I don't think that's a good measuring stick.

Now I'm not saying we dominate against good defenses... but I simply don't get the statement that we're inferior against good defenses.

On a side note... while I agree with you that I'd prefer the Bears defense, I don't think the Broncos were that far away. I don't think it is "laughable" to say the Broncos D was better.

Can you please tell me about these better defenses we seem to struggle against? I don't seem to recall getting shut down by an elite defense last season. Unless you're talking about that mighty Vikings D!?

In fact, the best defense we faced all last season was the Broncos, and we dropped 31 points on them. No other offense scored more on their defense last season.

Did you even have your eyes open last season?

Gary and Matt looked completely lost against the Packers and Patriots. Was that just a freak occurrence??? No, it was because outside of those two teams...no other opponent really had a backbone against us.

Packers and Patriots are top tier in terms of how their entire team operates on the field. They made us look silly.

This doesn't even mention the two OT games versus a bad Lions and Jaguars team. Even in what should seem to be fairly easy games, Gary's system wasn't dominating defenses.

After the Broncos game, things looked shaky for Gary with the exception of the Ravens blowout game that occurred after we had been destroyed by the Packers. I think most of it was on Matt, frankly. But it's Gary's team. At the end of the day it's on him.

I was simply responding to GP's statement that Kubiak's offense is inferior against the better defenses. First of all, that's quite an odd statement. What offenses are superior against good defenses? When an offense is going up against an elite defense, it's only natural that you won't perform as well as you usually do.

We all saw really good defenses give up 30 points + left and right to the better offenses the last few years. Hell, just look at how the best defenses in the league were shredded in this last playoff season. Your statement belongs in the last decade...not the current one.

We all saw really good defenses give up 30 points + left and right to the better offenses the last few years. Hell, just look at how the best defenses in the league were shredded in this last playoff season. Your statement belongs in the last decade...not the current one.

Yep ... ask some of the old school WRs what they would do today . Great defenses are becoming yield signs not stop signs .

Gary and Matt looked completely lost against the Packers and Patriots. Was that just a freak occurrence??? No, it was because outside of those two teams...no other opponent really had a backbone against us.

Packers and Patriots are top tier in terms of how their entire team operates on the field. They made us look silly.

This doesn't even mention the two OT games versus a bad Lions and Jaguars team. Even in what should seem to be fairly easy games, Gary's system wasn't dominating defenses.

After the Broncos game, things looked shaky for Gary with the exception of the Ravens blowout game that occurred after we had been destroyed by the Packers. I think most of it was on Matt, frankly. But it's Gary's team. At the end of the day it's on him.

He doesn't get it done in crunch time when it counts.

To me what happened is they jumped on the Texans and that made the Denny's menu outdated . Can't dump off on 3rd and 9 for 3 yards and win the game .

Gary and Matt looked completely lost against the Packers and Patriots. Was that just a freak occurrence??? No, it was because outside of those two teams...no other opponent really had a backbone against us.

Packers and Patriots are top tier in terms of how their entire team operates on the field. They made us look silly.

This doesn't even mention the two OT games versus a bad Lions and Jaguars team. Even in what should seem to be fairly easy games, Gary's system wasn't dominating defenses.

After the Broncos game, things looked shaky for Gary with the exception of the Ravens blowout game that occurred after we had been destroyed by the Packers. I think most of it was on Matt, frankly. But it's Gary's team. At the end of the day it's on him.

He doesn't get it done in crunch time when it counts.

GP, I was commenting on your statement:

"Your "system," Gary, is inferior vs. better defenses. They know what you're doing in various scenarios, and they know how to nullify your best-made plans.

Maybe focus more on adaptability and formation/style uniqueness instead of just sharpening your beloved system. Because you're screwing this team right out of the gate when we face better defenses.".

I guess I need to know what you mean by "better defenses"? I would not consider the Packers, Patriots, Lions and Jaguars to be better defenses in the league.

And come on... you know it was the defense that let us down in those Lions & Jags games, not the offense. We had over 600 yards of offense against the Jags, and over 500 yards against the Lions. I'd say Gary's offensive system did quite well on those game... wish I could say the same about the defense.

We all saw really good defenses give up 30 points + left and right to the better offenses the last few years. Hell, just look at how the best defenses in the league were shredded in this last playoff season. Your statement belongs in the last decade...not the current one.

That's a valid statement. But I'm still going to stand by my statement that our offense isn't going to play as well against better defenses (in comparison to lesser defenses). That's only natural.

If Gary's system is truly elite, then we'd be in shoot-outs in the game vs Packers, and the two games vs Patriots.

Remove Wade's defense from the equation. Wade's defense isn't calling plays for Matt on 3rd and 15 from our own 9-yard-line (a regular occurrence for the Texans in 2012, by the way). Wade's defense isn't throwing the ball into the dirt, to escape pressure, when there's time to hold on one more second and find an open man.

Wade's defense was gutted in the LB position, and a few of our DBs were missing here and there, too. Gary's offense is only capable of running a marathon if he's got a stacked defense (like we had in 2011). Take Wade's defense away, which happened in 2012 via injuries to LBs and DBs, and we see what happens: The offense can't produce; Gary wilts and so does his QB.

And when Wade's defense gives up 21 points in the 1st quarter it narrows down the denny's menu too making the team one dimensional.

Gary's offense is a grind the clock type finesse offense. I hope we draft well on that side of the ball were we can get a little more tempo on that side of the ball

This wasn't always the truth. Even when teams knew we were going to throw the ball, we could throw the ball, up, down, all over the field. Even when teams knew we were going to run the ball, we ran it between the tackles, we ran it around the edge, & we cut it back & ran it up their a55.

In 2012, for whatever reason that did not appear to be the case. We've all got our theories as to why that was, but prevalent among most is that it didn't appear that we tried. I understand the whole not force it & we scored a lot of points & we moved the ball without forcing it, playing it safe..... but if we don't have the lead, our defense is not the defense we think it is.

So, in my mind, anytime we are playing without the lead, we need to act like we want it. If that means we need to take chances & spread the field which seems to work for every other team, then we need to take chances. Because it appears we're going to lose anyway, if we don't have the lead.

This wasn't always the truth. Even when teams knew we were going to throw the ball, we could throw the ball, up, down, all over the field. Even when teams knew we were going to run the ball, we ran it between the tackles, we ran it around the edge, & we cut it back & ran it up their a55.

In 2012, for whatever reason that did not appear to be the case. We've all got our theories as to why that was, but prevalent among most is that it didn't appear that we tried. I understand the whole not force it & we scored a lot of points & we moved the ball without forcing it, playing it safe..... but if we don't have the lead, our defense is not the defense we think it is.

So, in my mind, anytime we are playing without the lead, we need to act like we want it. If that means we need to take chances & spread the field which seems to work for every other team, then we need to take chances. Because it appears we're going to lose anyway, if we don't have the lead.

In 2011, we were the same team on offense that we became in 2012...an offense that beats up on weaker defenses but runs into problems when they face (a) teams who don't buckle under the pressure, or (b) crucial over-the-hump games...such as getting past the divisional round.

For me, that situation involves two people: The head coach and the QB. No other two people have as much influence over the snap-by-snap flow of a game than the HC and the QB. Look no further than practically every team who ended up playing in a Conference Championship...they have a HC/QB duo who lived to fight another day.

Matt Ryan...he willed that team to win the divisional round game vs. Seahawks when all of us on that thread were saying "Wow, the Falcons just lost! First round bye doesn't matter! Home field doesn't matter!" Oops. Matt Ryan didn't get the memo. He spent 2012 being lampooned for his previous year's playoff failures, "Kings of the regular season" they were called. Well, Matt Ryan found a way to get his team into FG position and they won the game.

Colin Kaepernick...was deemed as maybe a Cinderella story and the clock was going to strike midnight. All he did was advance his team to the Super Bowl and almost found a way, with help from his HC, to win the Super Bowl.

Patriots and Ravens have two QBs who are, arguably, the two QBs with the most playoff wins, combined, in AFC history. I don't have the numbers to prove it, but I do know that Brady alone is up there...and Flacco has more wins, especially ROAD wins, in the playoffs than people would first think. Both of those teams have QB/HC duos who just find ways to get it done on a consistent basis.

That brings us to the Texans. I think everyone's expectations will be tempered when we have those first few games in 2013. We've seen this before, the same people doing the same things...so how does the script change during the playoffs for the Texans??? What has to happen for the Texans to go from being wildcard darlings to a conference game big-man-on-campus?

Head Coach and Quarterback is the key. It just is, and not only for our team. Look at teams who play in conference championship games, and what you see is that they've got head coaches and QBs who get it done. Tom Coughlin/Eli Manning got there twice, Bill and Tom get there practically every year for the past decade, Ravens seem to be in the mix consistently, etc.

I warned back when the Texans hired Wade Phillips, and we began to see Wade radically tune the defense up to a higher notch of performance in his free agency and draft pick moves, that the only danger I could foresee was that the defense would be dominant and that it could strain the team's chemistry if the defense became so dominant that the offense failed to capitalize on the opportunities. At some point, partly due to LB injuries among other things, the warning has become reality.